A One-Act Play About Family Culture, Identity, and Love
Diversionary Theatre starts its main stage year with We Are Continuous, a young play premiered in 2022 by Harrison David Rivers. It is always exciting to get new plays in San Diego shortly after their debuts, as it feels like being part of its history and journey.
Ora (Marti Gobel) loves her pristine dinner table. It sets a mood and a rule, and she is happy to have taught her son Simon (Elliot Sagay) these prime basics. Their mother-son bond is strong, and even though Ora respects Simon’s decisions and preferences, she cannot help but worry about what could have been, what she envisioned for her son in a traditional and sort of checklist manner, along with her husband’s perspectives. Simon moved from Kansas to New York to pursue his performing career and met Abe (Eli Wood). When things start getting serious, Simon wants his parents to be part. The outcome, although semi-surprising, takes another turn due to a life-threatening concern.
The play is an 80-minute smooth, entertaining ride where the actors narrate to the audience, alternating with acted scenes; a dynamic that keeps the beat moving and leaves room for the actors to improvise a little or interact based on the audience’s response. Padra Crisafulli’s sound design and composed pieces were key in this production as they gave each scene and narration its own touch and vibe.
Marti Gobel proved again how skilled she is and interacted with the audience through affirmations, winks, and laughs. Well-versed and intentioned, delivering great scenes. Kian Kline-Chilton directed the piece with a palpable trace that went steady between the acting, interactions, entrances, and exits. Another good quality in Kline-Chilton’s direction was handling dimension as background scenes were happening while an actor/actors were narrating to the audience, creating a nice animated stage frame contoured and prompted by Colby Freel’s lighting that consisted of color at the base, which gave depth and bright spotting that accentuated monologues and marked endings.
Heather Larsen’s scenic design housed a modern dining area with dark colors and a back shelf that was active with the scenes having a rack with clothes where the actors would come and put a piece of clothing on or take it off while the scene was taking place. Elliot Sagay, in his Diversionary debut, was sweet and charming as Simon and played well with Gobel and Eli Wood, who was playful, fun, and very sweet in his Diversionary debut. The last time I saw Eli was in Legally Blonde, the musical at SDMT, so it was good to see him in the role of Abe still giving “boyfriend” but with a total 180 from Warner. Sabrina Soto’s costume design was urban casual, with cool accents playing with accents like sneakers and vests that rounded out the looks. I also noticed that the couple had a wedding band and a pinky ring, which I appreciated. I always enjoy those details.
The play’s setting says “here and now,” but references like bunny antennas and Ask Jeeves sent me elsewhere. It was a nice wink. Harrison David Rivers also captured a common family culture with recognizable patterns that can happen anywhere but are very true to BIPOC and AAPI families, having a strong, authoritative father presence with traditional beliefs yet hardly any involvement. It is one of the key threads in this work, along with love and staying true to who you are.
Jaz Villalino is the stage manager for We Are Continuous currently playing until March 9; for more information on performance times and ticket prices, please click here.
And remember, theatre is not expensive when gifting yourself. There is always a way to find good seats at a price that fits every wallet. The run will include at least ten $10 Prebys Foundation Access-For-All tickets. Pay-What-You-Will & Industry Night is this Monday, March 3, with The Clark Cabaret & Bar remaining open before and after each performance.
